Articles
Writing on political literacy and the work of leading well.
These articles are Siri's answers to the questions she is asked most by clients and readers of Fluent.
The Most Important Question After Someone Else Gets Credit
Did anyone actively claim ownership, or did the room assume it because nobody, including your manager, said otherwise?
Workplace PoliticsIs Asking for Credit the Same as Asking for Praise?
Asking for credit can sound like asking for praise, validation or attention. The word missing from this conversation is attribution.
Career NavigationWho Speaks for You When You Are Not in the Room?
Your operational network helps you succeed in the role you have. Your advocacy network helps you become a candidate for the role you want.
Workplace PoliticsThe Two Systems of Every Organisation
Why the organisation chart only tells you half the story
Workplace PoliticsAre You Becoming Too Useful to Promote?
“I don’t know what we’d do without you” can be praise. It can also be a warning. Here’s why indispensability traps you, and how to make your value movable.
Career NavigationIs Your Career a Guided Missile or an Unguided Rocket?
Most of us were trained to be the rocket. Set a good plan, execute it well, and trust the work carries you. What that training left out is the environment.
Workplace PoliticsWhy Your Real Workday Starts at 10 PM
If your real work only begins after 10 PM, when no one can ping you, you are paying a hidden toll. The trap of being too helpful has a name, and a way out.
Career NavigationThe Extra Milers Trap
Extra Milers are highly competent, capable, and proactive. They are a manager's dream. But the very thing that makes them indispensable is the thing that burns them out.
Career NavigationWhy Networking Feels Exhausting (And What Actually Works)
Networking is a word most of us loathe, because we are thinking of it as a transaction. Thankfully, this is not the kind of networking that is needed to find a sponsor.